


the fear you won't fall

by empressearwig



Category: Austin & Murry-O'Keefe Families - Madeleine L'Engle
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-20
Updated: 2012-10-20
Packaged: 2017-11-16 16:57:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/541768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/empressearwig/pseuds/empressearwig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Vicky feels has never been in question. How Adam feels has never been anything but.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the fear you won't fall

The words come when Vicky least expects them, when she's past the hope of ever hearing them or of being able to offer them in return. They've been on the tip of her tongue more times than she can count in the four years that she's known Adam -- that's she loved Adam -- but even though he's always demanded nothing but her whole self, as though it was his by divine right, Vicky's always been careful to keep that part back, too afraid to offer what Adam can't -- or won't -- give.

She loves Adam. She has always loved Adam. She will always love Adam.

How Vicky feels has never been in question. How Adam feels has never been anything but.

It is late summer, just weeks before they will part again. Adam, back to Duke, and her, back to Oberlin. The miles that separate them can be counted in the hundreds now instead of the thousands, but sometimes Vicky thinks they have never been further apart.

But the distance is for later, and for now, Vicky is glad to be sitting at his side in Aunt Serena's parlor. His arm drapes over her shoulders -- or really, against the back of the cramped sofa that Aunt Serena had not so subtly nudged them towards. Vicky knows that Aunt Serena would like nothing better than for things to be official between them. Vicky would like nothing better herself, but knows that she lacks the courage to take that step herself. Not without knowing that Adam will be waiting for her on the other side.

"Vicky?"

Adam's voice jolts her back to her senses, and Vicky feels her cheeks go hot. "I'm sorry," she says. "What were you asking?"

Aunt Serena smiles indulgently. "I was asking if you and Adam would like to take a walk in the garden before he drives you home. They're lovely this time of the evening, nice and cool."

Vicky looks up at Adam's face, trying to ascertain his reaction to this latest matchmaking scheme. He smiles back at her, with the light that she loves so much in his eyes, and that is all the answer she needs.

"I'd love to," Vicky says.

Adam stands and holds out a hand to help her to her feet. He doesn't relinquish it like Vicky expects, but keeps it held warmly in his own as he leads her through the house and out into the garden.

" _Oh_ ," Vicky breathes, stopping dead in her tracks to admire how beautiful it all is. Aunt Serena was right, only lovely seems like such an inadequate word for the riot of color that's in front of her.

"I know," Adam says. He tugs on her hand. "Come on."

They meander down the gravel path, hand in hand. Neither of them speaks; neither of them needs to.

Eventually they settle on a stone bench, and Adam's arm goes back around her shoulders. Vicky leans into him -- not so much that it's obvious that she's doing it, but enough that she can feel him pressed up against her side. There's warmth everywhere they touch, and to Vicky, nothing has ever felt better.

Adam's voice breaks the spell once more. "I'll miss this," he says. He turns his head to look at her, his spare hand coming to her chin to tilt her face up towards his. "I'll miss you."

Her breath catches in her chest. "Adam," she says, intending to say more, but the words won't come and his name is left alone, adrift in the night air.

His thumb strokes along her cheek. "I will," he insists. "Won't you miss me?"

Vicky looks away. "Of course I will."

It is the truth. It is an incomplete truth.

"Vicky," Adam says, her name a command on his lips. "Look at me."

She does. She doesn't know what she sees.

His eyes are lit from within, and he's smiling, but there's something else in his expression, too. Something she doesn't recognize, that she doesn't know.

"I love you," he says, and she stops breathing entirely.

She's waited for so long to hear those words, had given up hope of them ever coming. And now he's said them and he's looking at her like he expects to hear them said back to him, and Vicky remembers that she hasn't said anything at all.

"I love you, too," she manages, half laughing, half crying. "Of course, I love you."

Adam laughs a little, too, and then he kisses her, there in Aunt Serena's gardens. He kisses her and Vicky knows that this will be something that will last forever.

The sun sets.


End file.
